Former Cardinal Newman pupil Nick Howard has reached the semi-finals of the German version of the TV series The Voice.

Nick, 30, is hoping to follow in the footsteps of David Hasselhof to become top of the German pops.

He has made the final eight of the competition, screened to five million viewers, and is now praying the Germans will vote “ja” to his acoustic indie-style music.

Speaking to The Argus from Berlin yesterday, Nick said: “The German people seem to have really embraced my music.

“I am so grateful.

“I guess people think it is a bit weird that it is the German version of The Voice that I’m in.”

Struggling singer-songwriter Nick has spent the last seven years trying to get noticed in the music industry.

He moved to America where he gained some success and began touring Germany as a support act for American groups.

Famous face

After building up a small following in Germany, he was asked to take part in the talent contest – which is one of the biggest shows on German TV.

He said: “It took me six years to get 10,000 fans on Facebook and four weeks to get a million.

“I feel this is finally a reward for all the years of hard work, but I still can’t get used to walking down the street and people recognising me.”

Nick had to learn to speak German in just a few months and said he was now managing to get by speaking a mixture of pidgin-German and English.

He said the German charts, known as the “Hitparade”, featured many of the same British and American artists that |have made it big here – as well as several home-grown acts who were not known outside Germany. Nick’s favourite German band is called Sunrise Avenue.

Baywatch legend David Hasselhof became a huge chart sensation in Germany, with number one hits and even performed at the fall of the Berlin wall, but his pop career never kicked off to the same degree in the rest of the world.

Nick is hoping his German success will be replicated in the UK and said he was looking forward to coming home following his European success.